Dual-connectivity support for user equipment in a hybrid cell virtualized radio access network architecture

ABSTRACT

Presented herein are techniques to facilitate dual-connectivity support for a user equipment (UE) in a hybrid cell virtualized Radio Access Network (vRAN) architecture. In one example, a method may include obtaining, by a node of a mobile network via a first cell of a RAN, a request for a UE to connect to the mobile network via the first cell in which the RAN includes at least one shared cell and at least one unique cell; determining that the UE is allowed for dual-connectivity operation; and providing a policy to the UE, wherein the policy identifies, for each of one or more applications, one of a shared cell operating mode or a unique cell operating mode that the UE is to utilize for each of the one or more applications.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to network equipment and services.

BACKGROUND

Networking architectures have grown increasingly complex incommunications environments, particularly mobile networkingenvironments. In particular, virtualized Radio Access Network (vRAN)architectures have been developed to provide radio coverage for mobilenetworks. However, there are significant challenges in managing radioaccess for vRAN architectures in order to provide services for userequipment.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagram of a system in which techniques may be implementedto provide dual-connectivity (DC) support for user equipment (UE) in ahybrid cell virtualized Radio Access Network (vRAN) architecture,according to an example embodiment.

FIGS. 2A, 2B, 2C, 2D, and 2E are a message sequence diagram illustratinga call flow associated with providing DC support for a UE in the hybridcell vRAN architecture of FIG. 1 , according to an example embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart depicting a method according to an exampleembodiment.

FIG. 4 is another flow chart depicting another method according to anexample embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a hardware block diagram of a computing device that mayperform functions associated with any combination of operations, inconnection with the techniques discussed herein.

FIG. 6 is a hardware block diagram of a radio device that may performfunctions associated with any combination of operations, in connectionwith the techniques discussed herein.

DESCRIPTION OF EXAMPLE EMBODIMENTS

Overview

Techniques presented herein may facilitate dual-connectivity (DC)support for one or more user equipment (UE) in a hybrid cell virtualizedRadio Access Network (vRAN) architecture. In particular, techniquesherein may facilitate dual protocol data unit (PDU) sessions acrossdifferent cell operating modes or types, such as a unique cell type anda shared cell type, in the hybrid cell vRAN architecture. The selectionof a cell type (unique or shared) for a PDU session of a UE can be basedon a policy, such as a UE Route Selection Policy (URSP) configured forthe UE that specifies the operating mode/cell type that is to beutilized to establish a PDU session for each of one or moreapplications. In various instances, applications can be identified inthe policy based on application identifiers (IDs), application types,and/or the like.

In one embodiment, a method is provided that may include obtaining, by anode of a mobile network via a first cell of a radio access network, arequest for a user equipment to connect to the mobile network via thefirst cell, wherein the radio access network comprises a plurality ofradio units in which each radio unit of the plurality of radio unitsprovides a shared cell that is shared with at least one other radio unitof the plurality of radio units and each radio unit of the plurality ofradio units provides a unique cell that is not shared with any otherradio units of the plurality of radio units; determining that the userequipment is allowed for dual-connectivity operation; and providing apolicy (e.g., an enhanced URSP) to the user equipment, wherein thepolicy identifies, for each of one or more applications, one of a sharedcell operating mode or a unique cell operating mode that the userequipment is to utilize for each of the one or more applications. In oneinstance, the method may include obtaining the policy for the userequipment from a policy server.

Example Embodiments

As referred to herein, an ‘enterprise’ or ‘enterprise entity’ may beconsidered to be a business, government, educational institution, anorganization, and/or the like that may include multiple enterpriselocations (or sites), such as a main campus, remote branches, anyoperating environment of private 5G (e.g., factory floor, port, miningfacility, electric grid, etc.) and so on. Enterprise devices (e.g.,enterprise user equipment (UE), etc.) that may be owned, operated,and/or otherwise associated with an enterprise may be utilized byenterprise users to serve enterprise purposes (e.g., business purpose,government purpose, educational/university purpose, etc.) of theenterprise. In some instances, an enterprise may operate an enterprisenetwork, also referred to as an enterprise data network, which may be anetwork implemented to serve enterprise purposes (e.g., host enterpriseapplications/services/etc., perform authentications and/orauthorizations, etc. for enterprise users associated with one or moreUE, and/or the like).

Further as referred to herein, a wireless wide area (WWA) accessnetwork, such as a cellular/Third (3rd) Generation Partnership Project(3GPP) access networks, may be characterized as a Radio Access Network(RAN) having radio nodes such as evolved Node Bs (eNBs or eNodeBs) forFourth (4th) Generation (4G)/Long Term Evolution (LTE) access networks,next generation Node Bs (gNBs or gNodeBs) for Fifth (5th) Generation(5G) and/or next Generation (nG) access networks, and/or the like thatprovide a larger RAN coverage area as compared to the RAN coverages areatypically provided by wireless local area (WLA) radio nodes (e.g.,Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 accesspoints, Wi-Fi® access points, Wi-Fi® access points, etc.). Stateddifferently, the WWA RAN coverage area provided by a WWA radio node istypically larger (sometimes orders of magnitude larger for example, upto a ratio of 1:5, depending on spectrum and power regulations) than theWLA RAN coverage area provided by a WLA radio node. Additionally, a WWARAN radio node can typically provide radio access connectivity for alarger number of devices as compared to a WLA RAN radio node. Dependingon implementation, any combination of WWA and/or WLA RANs may beutilized to facilitate connections between one or more devices and anycombination of Local Area Networks (LANs), such as an enterprise networkfor an enterprise location; Wide Area Networks (WANs), such as theInternet, multiple enterprise networks spread across multiple locations;Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN); and/or any other networkarchitecture/environment.

In some instances, an access network, such as a WWA access network, maybe referred to as a private access network. By ‘private’ it is meantthat a private WWA access network (e.g., a Citizen Broadband RadioService (CBRS) access network and/or a 3GPP cellular (4G/LTE, 5G, nG,etc.) access network) may provide network connectivity/services toclients (e.g., users/user equipment/devices/etc.) served by a networkoperator and/or service provider of the private WWA access network, suchas an enterprise. In one example, a private WWA access network may beconsidered to be a network that may be implemented to serve enterprisepurposes (e.g., business purposes, government purposes, educationalpurposes, etc.) for enterprise clients (e.g., enterprise users/userequipment/devices/etc.) in which the private WWA access network may beoperated by any combination of traditional public mobile networkoperators/service providers, enterprises network operators/serviceproviders (e.g., Cisco®, etc.), and/or third party networkoperators/service providers (e.g., neutral host networkoperators/service providers, cloud service providers, etc.). A privatenetwork may also be referred to as a standalone non-public network(SNPN) or a Public Network Integrated Non-Public Network (PNI-NPN) insome instances in some instances. Cisco is a registered trademark ofCisco Technology, Inc.

Discussed herein are features associated with vRAN architectures thatmay be provided for different radio accesses. In some instances, a vRANarchitecture can be implemented as a disaggregated vRAN architecturethat includes the split of a base station, such as a gNB, into a Central(or Centralized) Unit (CU), one or several Distributed Units (DUs), andone or several Radio Units (RUs). Further disaggregation may includeseparation of the CU into a Central Unit Control Plane (CU-CP) componentand a Central Unit User Plane (CU-UP) component. In some instances,certain vRAN components may also be referred to as virtualizedcomponents (e.g., virtualized DU (vDU) components, and/or virtualized CU(vCU) components). For a vRAN architecture, one or more RU(s) caninterface with a DU component, which further interfaces with a CU-CPcomponent and a CU-UP component. In some instances, such as for sharedcell vRAN architectures as discussed in further detail herein, multipleDUs (each interfacing with corresponding RU(s)) can interface with aCU-CP component and a CU-UP component.

Referring to FIG. 1 , FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a system 100 in whichtechniques may be implemented to provide dual-connectivity (DC) supportfor user equipment (UE) in a hybrid cell virtualized Radio AccessNetwork (vRAN) architecture, according to an example embodiment.

System 100 includes a number of UEs 102, such as a first UE 102.1(referred to herein generally as UE 102.1) and a second UE 102.2(referred to herein generally as UE 102.2), a RAN Element ManagementSystem (RAN-EMS) 104, a policy server 106, a mobile core network 110,and a vRAN 120, which may be inclusive of a disaggregated vRAN 120. Inat least one embodiment, mobile core network 110 may be representativeof a 5G core network (5GC) including an Access and Mobility ManagementFunction (AMF) 112, a Session Management Function (SMF) 114, and a UserPlane Function (UPF) 116. Although not illustrated, mobile core network110 may also include any combination of 4G/nG network elements. Althoughnot illustrated, mobile core network 110 may also include anycombination of 4G/nG network elements.

The vRAN 120 may include a number of radio units (RUs) 130, including afirst RU 130.1 (also referred to herein as RU 130.1), a second RU 130.2(also referred to herein as RU 130.2), and a third RU 130.3 (alsoreferred to herein as RU 130.3). Each RU 130.1, 130.2, and 130.3 mayinterface with a distributed unit (DU) component 132 (also referred toherein as DU 132), which may further interface with a central (orcentralized) unit (CU) component 134 (also referred to herein as CU134). The interface/interconnection between each RU 130.1, 130.2, and130.3 and DU 132 is typically referred to as a fronthaul network. Theinterface/interconnection between DU 132 and CU 134 can be referred toas a midhaul network.

One or more data network(s) 150 are also shown in FIG. 1 , which mayinclude a critical application (app) server 152 and a best effortapplication (app) server 154. In general, critical app server 152 mayfacilitate functionality for business-critical/business-relatedapplications such as a factory management application, a businesscollaboration tool, etc. that may be operated by UE 102.1 and/or UE102.2. In general, best effort app server 154 may facilitatefunctionality for non-business-critical/non-business-relatedapplications, such as a streaming music application, streaming videoapplication, etc. that may be operated by UE 102.1 and/or UE 102.2.

As illustrated in FIG. 1 , CU 134 can further interface with RAN-EMS104, AMF 112, and UPF 116. AMF 112 can further interface with policyserver 106 and SMF 114, which may further interface with UPF 116. UPF116 may also interface with data network(s) 150. SMF 114 may alsointerface with policy server 106. The interface/interconnection betweenCU 134 and elements of the mobile core network 110 is typically referredto as a backhaul network.

An RU, such as any of RUs 130.1-130.3, may implement any combination ofa WWA (e.g., cellular) and/or WLA (e.g., Wi-Fi®) air interface for anycombination of Radio Access Technology (RAT) types (sometimes referredto more generally as ‘accesses’) for vRAN 120 such as, but not limitedto: 3GPP licensed spectrum accesses (e.g., 3rd Generation (3G), 4G/LTE,5G, and/or next Generation (nG)/New Radio (NR) accesses); 3GPPunlicensed spectrum accesses (e.g., Licensed-Assisted Access (LAA),enhanced LAA (eLAA), further enhanced LAA (feLAA), and New RadioUnlicensed (NR-U)); non-3GPP unlicensed spectrum accesses such asInstitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 (e.g.,Wi-Fi®); IEEE 802.16 (e.g., WiMAX®), Near Field Communications (NFC),Bluetooth®, and/or the like; Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS)accesses; combinations thereof; and/or the like.

Thus, an RU may be inclusive of any configuration/combination of 3GPP4G/LTE evolved Node Bs (eNBs or eNodeBs), 5G next Generation Node Bs(gNBs or gNodeBs), and/or any other next Generation access nodes thatmay include hardware and/or software to perform baseband signalprocessing (such as modulation/demodulation) as well as hardware (e.g.,baseband processors (modems), transmitters and receivers, transceivers,and/or the like), software, logic and/or the like to facilitate signaltransmissions and signal receptions via antenna assemblies (not shown)in order to provide over-the-air Radio Frequency (RF) coverage for oneor more access types (e.g., 4G/LTE, 5G, nG, CBRS, etc.) through whichone or more UE, such as any of UEs 102, may utilize to connect to one ormore RUs for one or more sessions (e.g., voice, video, data, gaming,combinations thereof, etc.). More generally, an RU may perform lowerPhysical (PHY) layer and RF operations to facilitate RF connections withone or more UE. The coverage area of a radio node such as an eNB, gNB,RU, etc. is typically referred to as a ‘cell’ in which one or more UEmay attach to the radio node that serves the coverage area/cell suchthat service connection to a network may be facilitated via the cellprovided by the radio node.

A DU (also sometimes referred to as a baseband unit), such as DU 132,may provide lower level operations of the radio signal processing stack,such as Radio Link Control (RLC), Medium Access Control (MAC), andhigher PHY layer operations, such as digital processing, includingsignal modulation and demodulation, channel encoding and decoding, andscheduling, among others. A CU, such as CU 134, may provide upper leveloperations of a radio signal processing stack, such as user plane PacketData Convergence Protocol (PDCP) functions and user plane Service DataAdaptation Protocol (SDAP), among others. The split of operations of aradio signal processing stack among between a DU a CU can be varieddepending on implementation and/or configuration of a given vRAN/networkarchitecture. A CU, such as CU 134, can also operate to DU(s), such asDU 132, for a vRAN architecture via Resource Control (RRC) functions andthe control plane part of the PDCP protocol. In some embodiments, CU 134may be further disaggregated into a CU-CP component and a CU-UPcomponent.

In addition to radio signal processing operations, CU 134, DU 132, andRUs 130.1-130.3 may perform additional operations as discussed forvarious embodiments herein.

A UE, such as any of UEs 102.1 and 102.2, may be associated with anyuser, subscriber, employee, client, customer, electronic device, etc.wishing to initiate a flow in system 100 and may be inclusive of anydevice that initiates a communication in system 100, such as a computer,an electronic device such as an industrial device (e.g., a robot),automation device, enterprise device, appliance, Internet of Things(IoT) device (e.g., sensor, monitor, etc.), a laptop or electronicnotebook, a router with a WWA/WLA interface, a WWA/WLA (cellular/Wi-Fi®)enabled telephone/smart phone, tablet, etc. and/or any other device,component, element, or object capable of initiating voice, audio, video,media, or data exchanges within system 100. It is to be understood thatUEs discussed herein may also be configured with any combination ofhardware (e.g., communications units, receiver(s), transmitter(s),transceiver(s), antenna(s) and/or antenna array(s), processor(s), memoryelement(s), baseband processor(s) (modems), etc.)], controllers,software, logic, and/or any other elements/entities that may facilitateover-the-air RF connections with one or more access networks. Asreferred to herein, the terms ‘UE’ and ‘UE device’ can be usedinterchangeably.

In accordance with embodiments herein, one or both of UE 102.1 and/or UE102.2 may be a dual-connectivity (DC) capable UE such that the UE may becapable of two concurrent connections to a same RAT type (e.g., 5G/NR)via a primary connection and a secondary connection. In some embodimentsduring connection establishment of a UE for a given cell, the UE mayindicate whether it is or is not DC capable. Subscription and/or policyinformation maintained for a UE within system 100 may identify whetherthe UE is allowed or is not allowed for DC operation within system 100(e.g., the policy may indicate mode: DCNR to indicate that the UE isallowed for DC operation within the system 100 for 5G/NR).

In addition to various operations discussed for techniques herein, anAMF, such as AMF 112, may facilitate access and mobility managementcontrol/services for one or more UE, such as UEs 102, to facilitate oneor more over-the-air (OTA) RF connection(s) between the UE 102 and thevRAN 120. In addition to various operations discussed for techniquesherein, an SMF, such as SMF 114, may be responsible for UE Protocol DataUnit (PDU) session management (SM), with individual functions/servicesbeing supported on a per-session basis in order to facilitate datatransfer(s) between a UE and one or more data network(s). Generally, aUPF, such as UPF 116, may operate as a Virtual or Virtualized NetworkFunction (VNF) to provide packet routing and forwarding operations foruser data traffic and may also perform a variety of functions such aspacket inspection, traffic optimization, Quality of Service (QoS),policy enforcement and user data traffic handling (e.g., to/from datanetwork(s) 150), and billing operations (e.g., accounting, etc.) for UE102 PDU sessions.

It is to be understood that other network elements may be configured formobile core network 110 for any combination of 3G/4G/5G/nGimplementations, such as, a Policy Control Function (PCF), a Policy andCharging Rules Function (PCRF), a Network Slice Selection Function(NSSF), a Network Repository Function (NRF), a Unified Data Management(UDM) service, a Unified Data Repository (UDR), a Home Subscriber Server(HSS), a Mobility Management Entity (MME), a Serving Gateway (SGW), aPacket Data Network (PDN) Gateway (PGW), any Control and User PlaneSeparation (CUPS) components, and/or the like in accordance with any3GPP specifications.

In various embodiments, the data network(s) 150 of FIG. 1 may be anycombination of the Internet, an Internet Protocol (IP) MultimediaSubsystem (IMS), Ethernet network, Ethernet switching system(s), and/orthe like.

Generally, RAN-EMS 104 may operate to configure, update, and/orotherwise manage resources for vRAN 120 via CU 134, DU 132, and RUs130.1, 130.2, and 130.3 and policy server 106 may provide formaintaining/storing one or more policies for vRAN 120 and/or UEs 102 inaccordance with embodiments described herein. Although illustrated asseparate elements for the embodiment of FIG. 1 , in some instances,RAN-EMS 104 and policy server 106 may be implemented as a combinedelement. For example, in some instances, RAN-EMS 104 and policy server106 may be implemented as any combination of a Cisco® Digital NetworkArchitecture Center (DNA-C), a Cisco® RAN Element Management System(RAN-EMS) an enterprise domain controller, including Meraki® cloud,and/or the like. Meraki® is a registered trademark of Meraki, LLC, awholly owned subsidiary of Cisco Systems, Inc. In various embodiments,policy server 106 may be any combination of an Authentication,Authorization, and Accounting (AAA) function/server, a PCF/PCRF, a HSS,a UDR/UDM, and/or the like. In some instances, policy server 106 may beimplemented as a Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE), which may supportany combination of Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service (RADIUS)and/or Diameter protocols.

A RAN, such as vRAN 120, can be configured to operate in two modes: a)unique cell configuration/operating mode, and b) shared cellconfiguration/operating mode. Generally, the unique cell mode is themost widely used configuration/operating mode where in which each RUoperates as a unique cell with a unique cell identifier. Current publiccellular networks often operate in the unique cell mode.

The shared cell mode is a special configuration/operating mode in whichmultiple RUs that are part of a shared cell form to become one giantcell, sometimes referred to as a ‘super cell’. In this configurationmode, all the RUs that are part of this giant cell share the same cellidentifiers and operate in the same frequency bands. As referred toherein, shared cells and unique cells can be referred to as cell types.

The identifiers that provide a unique identity to a cell, whetherconfigured as unique cell or a shared cell, are Physical Cell Identifier(PCI) and Cell Global Identity (CGI). The term ‘PCI’ is typically usedin reference to 4G/LTE implementations, whereas the term ‘New Radio PCI’(NR-PCI) is typically used in reference to 5G-New Radio (5G-NR)implementations. Further, CGI for 4G/LTE implementations is referred toas Evolved Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) TerrestrialRadio Access Network (E-UTRAN) CGI (E-CGI) and CGI for 5G-NR is referredto as NR-CGI.

A shared cell configuration has many advantages. For example, all RUsthat are part of shared cell can all serve a given UE at any given pointof time. A transmitted frame from a given UE will be received by all ofthe RUs in their RF reachability range. The implication of this is thatthe UE is not required to perform handovers as it moves from one RFconnection with one RU to an RF connection with another RU within thesame shared cell, meaning there are no handovers within the same sharedcell. In particular, handover involves the careful co-ordination andconfiguration of parameters in neighboring cells, including theoptimization of hysteresis levels that control the triggering of thehandover procedure. In contrast, by operating with a shared cellconfiguration, no optimization of such parameters is involved. Theshared cell mode also eliminates any cell border interference issues, asall the RUs are operating in the same frequency bands. Additionally, theshared cell operating mode offers improved reliability over the uniquecell operating mode, as there may be more than one RU receiving a frametransmitted by a given UE operating in the shared cell operating mode.

The shared cell configuration/operating mode can be very useful inindustrial applications, such as factory floor applications in which oneor more business-critical or business-related application(s) are to beutilized by a UE. For example, in one instance, an Ultra-Reliable andLow-Latency Communication (URLLC) type or level of service may beutilized by a UE. Other examples of critical/business-relatedapplication may include enterprise collaboration tools (e.g., videoconferencing tools, email tools, industrial applications, and/or thelike). The shared cell configuration mode, with its inherent spatialdiversity properties is well suited for such sensitive applications.

However, the shared cell configuration also incurs a cost; the capacityof the shared cell (encompassing multiple RUs) reduces to the size of asingle cell (with one RU). For example, if each RU for a deploymentoperating in a unique cell mode can support ‘n’ UE connections, thecapacity of the vRAN with ‘m’ radio units is ‘n multiplied by m’.However, for RUs operating in a shared cell mode, the capacity of theshared cell is still ‘n’ UE connections.

In accordance with techniques discussed herein, system 100 may providefor a new mode, referred to as a ‘hybrid cell configuration mode’ or,more broadly, a ‘hybrid cell’, for use in enterprise private 5G/nGdeployments via vRAN 120. In particular, a new hybrid cell approach isprovided in which an RU/cell can be operated in both shared cell andunique cell configuration/operating modes concurrently.

Accordingly, vRAN 120 may be configured to provide 3GPP private 4G/LTE,5G/nG, and/or CBRS mobile network services via CU 134, DU 132, andrespective RUs 130.1, 130.2, and 130.3 through respective unique cellcoverage areas 136.1 (provided by RU 130.1 in at least one embodiment),136.2 (provided by RU 130.2 in at least one embodiment), and 136.3(provided by RU 130.3 in at least one embodiment) and a shared cellcoverage area 138 (provided by all of RUs 130.1, 130.2, and 130.3 in atleast one embodiment). As referred to herein, the terms ‘cell coveragearea’ and ‘cell’ may be referred to interchangeably. For example, theterms unique cell coverage area 136.1 and unique cell 136.1 may be usedinterchangeably, the terms unique cell coverage area 136.2 and uniquecell 136.2 may be used interchangeably, the terms unique cell coveragearea 136.3 and unique cell 136.3 may be used interchangeably, and theterms shared cell coverage area 138 and shared cell 138 may be usedinterchangeably.

Each respective unique cell coverage area 136.1, 136.2, and 136.3 isprovided by each respective RU 130.1, 130.2, and 130.3 in which eachunique share cell coverage area provided by each respective RU is notshared with the other RUs. As such, each respective RU 130.1, 130.2, and130.3 broadcasts a different cell identity (ID) (i.e., CGI such asE-CGI/NR-CGI) and PCI/NR-PCI for each respective unique cell coveragearea 136.1, 136.2, and 136.3.

In contrast, shared cell coverage area 138 is provided by and sharedamong all RUs 130.1-130.3. Thus, all RUs 130.1, 130.2, and 130.3 maybroadcast a same cell ID (E-CGI/NR-CGI) and PCI/NR-PCI for the sharedcell coverage area 138.

Thus, in a hybrid cell deployment, such as shown for the disaggregatedvRAN 120 of FIG. 1 , RUs 130.1-130.3 can be configured as hybrid cellssuch that they can act like a single shared cell to serve one or moreUEs 102 via shared cell coverage area 138 provided across all the RUs130.1-130.3 and, further, each respective RU 130.1, 130.2, and 130.3 canalso provide each of a respective unique cell coverage area 136.1,136.2, and 136.3. Thus, each respective RU 130.1, 130.2, and 130.3broadcasts a different cell identity (ID) (E-CGI/NR-CGI) and PCI/NR-PCIfor each respective unique cell coverage area 136.1, 136.2, and 136.3and all of RUs 130.1, 130.2, and 130.3 may broadcast a same cell ID(E-CGI/NR-CGI) and PCI/NR-PCI for the shared cell coverage area 138 thatis also different from each respective unique cell E-CGI/NR-CGI andPCI/NR-PCI. The shared cell and the unique cells may share the samenetwork identity, such as Public Land Mobile Network Identity (PLMN-ID).

As referred to herein, a unique cell may also be referred tointerchangeably as a non-shared cell. Thus, the terms ‘unique celloperating mode’ and ‘non-shared cell operating mode’ can be used hereininterchangeably. As shown in the embodiment of FIG. 1 , threeunique/non-shared cells and one shared cell are illustrated; however, itis to be understood that the example number of unique/non-shared cellsand shared cells and/or the number of RUs forming a shared cell can bevaried depending on implementation.

Further, it is to be understood that per-RU shared cells/coverage areas(which may be partially or wholly overlapping, as generally illustratedfor unique cell coverage areas 136.1, 136.2, and 136.3), can alsooverlap the shared cell coverage area 138. In some instances, an RU maysupport one or multiple shared cells. Further, although illustrated ashaving no coverage gaps, in some instances RF gaps may be present forthe shared cell coverage area 138. In some instances, multiple DUs andCUs may be present within system 100 in which each DU/CU can support oneor more RUs also providing hybrid/non-hybrid cells. Thus, multipleshared cells can be present in system 100 in some instances. Further,the size and shape of the cells illustrated in FIG. 1 are provided forillustrative purposes only and are not meant to limit the broad scope ofthe embodiments discussed herein. Any size/shape of cell can beenvisioned within the scope of embodiments discussed herein.

Additionally, although embodiments herein discuss that each RU 130.1,130.2, and 130.3 operates in a hybrid configuration to provide uniqueand shared cell coverage areas, it is to be understood that one or moreRUs for a vRAN implementation may operate in a non-hybrid mode byproviding only unique cell or shared cell coverage. For example, in atleast one embodiment, at least two of RUs 130.1, 130.2, and 130.3 mayoperate in the hybrid mode to provide both shared cell 138 and theircorresponding unique cell, whereas the other of the at least two RUs mayoperate in a non-hybrid mode and may either provide only the shared cell138 or only a corresponding unique cell.

Further, although UEs 102.1 and 102.2 are illustrated in FIG. 1 as beingoutside the coverage areas of the cells with which they are/can beconnected, such illustration is provided for illustrative purposes onlyin order to discuss various feature of embodiments herein. It is to beunderstood that UEs 102.1 and 102.2 are/can be located within coverageareas of the cells with which they are connected as discussed forvarious embodiments herein.

Given the above characterization of shared and unique cell modes, eachwith its own set of advantages and disadvantages, one challenge forhybrid implementations may include determining the preferred operatingmode (unique cell or shared cell) for one or more applications operatedby a DC capable UE for private 5G/nG deployments. For example in someinstances, a DC capable UE, such as UE 102.1 and/or UE 102.2, may seekto initiate a session for a business-critical/business-relatedapplication that may benefit from shared cell connectivity, such as, butnot limited to, a video teleconference application, a factory managementapplication, business collaboration tools (e.g., email, etc.), and/orthe like that may operate via critical app server 152 while alsoinitiating a session for a non-business-critical or non-business-relatedapplication that may be provided by best effort app server 154 that anenterprise may desire to assign to unique cell connectivity.Non-business-critical/non-business-related applications can include, butnot be limited to, streaming music applications, streaming videoapplications, social media applications, and/or the like. Thus, whileutilization of a shared cell may be advantageous for one set ofapplications, the same configuration may be an in efficient use ofnetwork resources for a large set of other applications

In accordance with techniques discussed herein, system 100 may provideDC support for DC capable UEs within the hybrid cell architecture ofvRAN 120 in order to facilitate at least two PDU session flows for a UE102 in which each of the PDU session flows can be across a differentcell type based on an enterprise policy configured for policy server 106for each of one or more applications operated by the UE 102 in which theenterprise policy identifies a cell operating mode (shared or unique)that is to be utilized by the UE for each of one or more applications.Thus, the UE 102 can concurrently utilize both a shared cell radiocommunication link via the shared cell operating mode and a unique cellradio communication link via the unique cell operating mode fordifferent PDU sessions/applications. For example, applications as may beidentified using any combination of an application identifier (AppID orAppId), an application name, and/or the like can be mapped or otherwiseassigned to a corresponding cell operating mode that is to be utilizedfor a PDU session initiated by a UE for a given application. An AppIDcan be any numeric and/or alphanumeric identifier that uniquelyidentifies a particular application.

In one embodiment, the enterprise policy may be an enhanced UE RouteSelection Policy (URSP) that can be configured for policy server 106.Conventionally, a URSP can be used to allow for the selection of aDNN/APN, Single-Network Slice Selection Assistance Information(S-NSSAI), RAT type, Session and Service Continuity (SSC) mode, and/orthe like when an application is launched. A URSP can include a TrafficDescriptor portion and a Route Descriptor portion in which a particularTraffic Descriptor (e.g., AppID) can be linked to one or more RouteDescriptors (e.g., DNN/APN, S-NSSAI, RAT type, SSC mode, etc.) that aretriggered upon identification of the particular Traffic Descriptor(e.g., upon launching an application by a UE. In accordance withembodiments herein, an enhanced URSP can be configured in which theTraffic Descriptors for the enhanced URSP identify each of anapplication (using an AppID for each application) and the RouteDescriptor for each application is enhanced to identify an operatingmode (shared cell operating mode or unique cell operating mode) that isto be utilized for a PDU session for each application. Other RouteDescriptor information can be configured in an enhanced URSP inaccordance with various embodiments herein.

In at least one embodiment, an enhanced URSP can be configured for eachof UE 102.1 and 102.2 that may be the same or different URSPs for eachUE based on enterprise policy and/or the like. In at least oneembodiment, an enhanced URSP can be configured for each of one or moredifferent types, classes, and/or groups of UEs 102.1 and 102.2. In atleast one embodiment, different enhanced URSPs can be configured fordifferent network locations (e.g., site specific policies for differentbranch offices, different factories, different factory floors, etc.).Other enhanced URSP configurations can be envisioned that may utilizeany combination of these examples and/or others and, thus, are clearlywithin the scope of embodiments discussed herein.

TABLE 1, below, illustrates an example enhanced URSP that may configuredfor policy server 106 for a given UE, according to an exampleembodiment.

TABLE 1 Example Enhanced URSP Slice Information RAT Operating AppID(Opt) DNN Type Mode AppID-1 S-NSSAI-1 DNN(150) NR Unique-Cell AppID-2S-NSSAI-1 DNN(150) NR Shared-Cell

As illustrated in TABLE 1, the example enhanced URSP identifies a numberof applications (AppIDs, such as AppID-1 and AppID-2), which can beconsidered Traffic Descriptors for the enhanced URSP. The RouteDescriptors for the enhanced URSP for each corresponding TrafficDescriptor (e.g., each AppID) can identify Data Network Name (DNN)information (e.g., identifying data network 150), RAT type information(e.g., identifying 5G/NR), and a cell operating mode (e.g., Unique-Cellor Shared-Cell) to be to be utilized for a PDU session for each of theapplications included in the enhanced URSP. In some embodiments, theenhanced URSP can include slice information (e.g., S-NSSAI) identifyinga slice that is to be utilized for each application. Although DNN isillustrated in TABLE 1, it is to be understood that Access Point Name(APN) could also be utilized for 4G RAT types (e.g., RAT type=E-UTRAN,etc.).

As shown for the enhanced URSP in TABLE 1, the Traffic DescriptorAppID-1 (which may identify a non-business-critical/non-business-relatedapplication operated via best effort app server 154) can be associatedwith a Route Descriptor indicating a slice identifier S-NSSAI-1,DNN(150), RAT type NR, and the Unique-Cell operating mode indicatingthat a PDU session for AppID-1 is to be operated via the unique celloperating mode. Also shown for the enhanced URSP in TABLE 1, the TrafficDescriptor AppID-2 (which may identify abusiness-critical/business-related application) can be associated with aRoute Descriptor indicating a slice identifier S-NSSAI-1, DNN(150), RATtype NR, and the Shared-Cell operating mode indicating that a PDUsession for AppID-2 is to be operated via the shared cell operatingmode.

The enhanced URSP configured for a given UE can be stored in associationwith any DNN/APN (e.g., for per-DNN/APN level URSPs), any UE/subscriberidentifier that can be used to identify a given enhanced URSP for agiven UE (e.g., for per-UE level URSPs), such as, for example, anycombination of an International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI),International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI), Subscription PermanentIdentifier (SUPI), Subscription Concealed Identifier (SUCI), anygroup/class/type identifier that can identify differentgroups/classes/types of UEs (e.g., for per-group/class/type levelURSPs), such as ranges of ranges of IMEIs, ranges of SUPIs, etc.,Security or Scalable Group Tag (SGT) identifiers for groups of UEs,device type identifiers (e.g., smartphones, automated guided vehicles(AGV)s, etc.), and/or the like for one or more UE(s).

In one embodiment, an enhanced URSP configured for a given UE can beextended to include an indication of a RAN configuration mode for the UEthat indicates whether the given UE is approved/allowed for DC NRoperation via vRAN 120 (mode: DCNR) and/or an enterprise policy for theUE stored at policy server 106 can be configured to indicate that agiven UE is allowed/approved for DCNR operation (e.g., to concurrentlyconnect over both unique and shared cells for a given deployment).

During operation, a given enhanced URSP configured for a given UE can becommunicated to the UE through UE registration with the mobile corenetwork 110 in order to enable the UE to utilize a shared cell operatingmode or a unique cell operating mode for establishing a PDU session fora given application as identified in the enhanced URSP.

In one embodiment, one or more beam resource policies can also beconfigured for policy server 106 such that various beam resources may beutilized for the shared cell 138 and/or the unique cells 136.1, 136.2,and 136.3.

For example, a UE may access broadcast beam resources via the sharedcell operating mode and may access single beam resources via the uniquecell operating mode. Broadcast beam resources may help to ensure thatthe most consistent service is obtained across the service area, whereassingle beam IDs originating from a single RU/unique cell can help toensure an optimized use of frequency resources.

Generally, a beamformed system can use a plurality of antenna elementsto adapt the composite antenna gain pattern generated by the antennaelements. The system can apply a set of amplitude and phase weights tothe signals applied to individual antenna elements to direct the antennamain lobe pattern and/or side lobes and/or nulls towards specificazimuth and/or elevation angles. The use of specific azimuths and/orelevation angles can be used to beneficially direct radiated energy andreceive energy to/from locations of specific user devices, in preferenceto other locations. Opportunistically, then serving a plurality ofdevices (e.g., UE 102.1 and 102.2), the radiation pattern used to serveindependent devices can generate a high degree of orthogonality betweenthe channels used to serve individual devices. This allows multipledevices to be served simultaneously, using spatial multiplexing tosimultaneously direct radiated energy towards a first device using afirst set of antenna weights and towards a second device using a secondset of antenna weights.

The individual channels are sensed using a system that monitors channelstate information from individual devices. Channel information sensedfrom a plurality of devices, such as UE 102.1 and 102.2, can be used tooptimally select which devices to serve at a particular instance out ofthe total available set of devices. In a time-division duplex (TDD)system, the reciprocity of channel state information between thedown-link and the up-link permits channel state information to bederived by examining received signals in the up-link and apply thederived information in determining the optimum antenna weights foroperation in the down-link. In the 5G New Radio (NR) system, soundingreference signals (SRS) are transmitted by a 5G device (e.g., aparticular UE) and used to monitor the uplink channel state.

Beamforming offers benefits for devices where channel state is known.This means channel state for devices in the connected state can becontinually updated and the composite beam pattern adapted accordingly.The periodicity of updates is limited by the period of updates tochannel state information. In a TDD system, this may be limited byopportunities of devices in the connected state to send uplinkinformation. Still in other frequency division duplex (FDD) systems,this may be limited by the periodicity of sending specific measurementreports that report information pertaining to the downlink channelstate.

In certain environments, there will be a high degree of temporalcorrelation between successive estimation of channel state. Example ofsuch environments can include when serving slow moving devices operatedby pedestrian users. Being able to detect that channel state informationexhibits a high temporal correlation allows the composite beams to beconstructed with a high degree of directivity. Such beams are known asfine beams, where the elevation and/or azimuth arc is reduced to focuson a specific location. In other environments, there may be a low degreeof temporal correlation between successive estimation of channel state.Examples of such environments can include when serving fast movingdevices operated in a vehicular environment. Being able to detect thatchannel state information exhibits a low temporal correlation allows thecomposite beam to be constructed with a lower degree of directivity.Such beams are known as coarse beams, where the elevation and/or azimutharc is increased to focus on a generalized location.

Whereas beamforming offers benefit to devices in the connected state,mobile systems it is useful to be able to transition devices from theidle state into the connected state. As channel state information isunknown for devices in the idle state, various operations may beinvolved to assist in the idle state to connected state transitioningprocedure. These operations can include using procedures that avoid theuse of beamforming during the initial attachment procedure. Such a beamis referred to a broadcast beam, where the elevation and/or azimuth arcis configured to cover the complete coverage area of a particular cell.Other operations include beam sweeping, where a coarse beam is sweptacross the entire elevation and/or azimuth arc that corresponds to thecomplete coverage area of a cell in discrete steps with devicesconfigured to repeat their initial access procedures to ensure that aprocedure will coincide with coverage of any device in the idle state inany location across a cell coverage area.

During initial attachment procedures, devices such as UEs 102.1 and102.2 can make use of special signals transmitted in the downlinkincluding the synchronization signal block (SSB) that includes theprimary synchronization signal (PSS), the secondary synchronizationsignal (SSS), and the Channel State Information Reference Symbols(CSI-RS).

In a disaggregated radio access network, such as vRAN 120, beamformerlogic is configured for each of RU 130.1, 130.2, and 130.3 and channelstate information is determined during demodulation at the DU 132. Theoperation of the fronthaul network between the DU 132 and each of RU130.1, 130.2, and 130.3 can be used to signal the information to enablethe beamformer logic configured for each of RU 130.1, 130.2, and 130.3to configure appropriate beam weights.

In one embodiment, the fronthaul interface between DU 132 and each of RU130.1, 130.2, and 130.3 may be based on the Open RAN (O-RAN) Allianceopen fronthaul specification, such as O-RAN.WG4.CUS.0-v05.00, publishedNov. 7, 2020. In such an embodiment, upper PHY functionality in the DU132 may include the modulation/demodulation, scrambling/de-scramblingand channel encoding/decoding functionality, with the remainder of thephysical layer functions, sometimes referred to as the lower physicallayer, implemented in each of RU 130.1, 130.2, and 130.3. In an openfronthaul implementation, frequency domain in-phase and quadratureinformation is signaled between the DU 132 and each of RU 130.1, 130.2,and 130.3.

In order to support beamforming, the open fronthaul system may supportvarious beamforming techniques. In one embodiment, pre-defined beams canbe defined in each respective RU 130.1, 130.2, and 130.3 and DU 132 foreach respective unique cell 136.1, 136.2, and 136.3. Each beam mayrepresent a set of weights and phases applied to the set of antennaelements for each RU and can be represented by a 15-bit beam identifier(beam-ID) in which a beam-ID of zero (0) may correspond to a broadcastbeam and other beam-IDs may correspond to predefined antenna patterns.The information that defines the spatial relations between differentnon-broadcast beam-IDs can be signaled between each of RU 130.1, 130.2,and 130.3 and DU 132. In various embodiments, the information caninclude whether a beam-ID corresponds to a coarse beam or a fine beam,identification of specific neighboring beam-IDs, and/or identificationof any overlapping beam-IDs.

During operation, beam-IDs for each of unique cells 136.1, 136.2, and136.3 can be signaled in messages sent between the DU 132 and eachrespective RU 130.1, 130.2, and 130.3 pertaining to each respectiveunique cell 136.1, 136.2, and 136.3. In the downlink, for example, abeam-ID for a unique cell can be signaled along with frequency domainin-phase and quadrature symbols to a given RU and can be used by thegiven RU to configure antenna weights when transmitting thecorresponding symbols to a given UE 102.1 and/or 102.2 operating in aunique cell operating mode for a particular application traffic flow/PDUsession (e.g., as prescribed per an enhanced URSP, as described herein).In the uplink, a beam-ID for a unique cell can be signaled in controlplane messages that configure the lower physical layer and can bereceived by a given RU and used to configure the antenna weights whenreceiving the corresponding symbols from uplink transmissions obtainedfrom a given UE 102.1 and/or 102.2 operating in a unique cell operatingmode for a particular application traffic flow/PDU session (e.g., asprescribed per an enhanced URSP, as described herein).

In a shared cell, such as shared cell 138, frequency domain in-phase andquadrature symbols can be signaled to each of RUs 130.1, 130.2, and130.3 which can then simultaneously transmit the same information. Inthe uplink for shared cell 138, common control plane messages are sentto each RU 130.1, 130.2, and 130.3 to configure the lower physical layerto simultaneously receive a set of symbols and signal such symbols to DU132. Thus, it is to be understood that if a beam-ID of zero (0) is usedin the signaling, then each of the plurality of RUs 130.1, 130.2, and130.3 will use their corresponding broadcast beams for the operation ofthe shared cell 138. As an optimization in at least one embodiment, thebeam space corresponding to a 15-bit beam-ID can be partitioned betweenindividual RUs 130.1, 130.2, and 130.3. In such an embodiment, thebeamforming RUs 130.1, 130.2, and 130.3 can effectively be operated as asingle distributed multi-antenna system.

In contrast to a single RU system in which an RU is able to signal a DUinformation regarding the relationships between beam-IDs, in adistributed system as provided via vRAN 120 such information may bedetermined based on the spatial relationships between RU 130.1, 130.2,and 130.3 and, hence, may not be known a priori by an RU. Rather, the DU132 can use frequency domain in-phase and quadrature symbols receivedfrom the RUs 130.1, 130.2, and 130.3 to determine the effective beamrelations.

In one embodiment, the DU 132 can signal the individual RUs 130.1,130.2, and 130.3 with information of which beam-ID may be used for anadditional broadcast beam. For example, DU 132 may configure the RU130.1 to use a beam-ID 1 as an additional broadcast beam, may configurethe RU 130.2 to use a beam-ID 2 as an additional broadcast beam, and mayconfigure the RU 130.3 to use beam-ID 3 as an additional broadcast beam.On initialization, DU 132 may not know the relations between beam-ID 1,beam-ID 2 and beam-ID 3. When serving a particular UE 102.1 and/or UE102.2 operating in a shared cell operating mode for a particularapplication traffic flow/PDU session, for example, the DU 132 canconfigure beam-ID 1, beam-ID 2 and beam-ID 3 to simultaneously serve theuplink reception from a particular UE and DU 132 can receivecorresponding frequency domain in-phase and quadrature symbols from RU130.1, 130.2, and 130.3. By processing these signals, DU 132 candetermine the signal quality of the symbols received by the differentRUs 130.1, 130.2, and 130.3 for uplink transmissions by a given UE 102.1and/or UE 102.2 operating in a shared cell operating mode for aparticular application traffic flow/PDU session. For example, thisprocessing can indicate that while RU 130.3 may receive the best qualitysignal from the given UE 102.1 and/or 102.2 operating in the shared celloperating mode for a particular application traffic flow/PDU session, RU130.2 may receive the second best quality. The DU 132 can thereforedetermine that there is a spatial beam relationship between beam-ID 3 onRU 130.3 and beam-ID 2 on RU 130.2.

After such a period of determination, DU 132 can flexibly configure theRUs 130.1, 130.2, and 130.3 to operate in a range of configurations.Using beam-ID 0, for example, the DU 132 can operate using shared cell138 where all RUs 130.1, 130.2, and 130.3 are used to simultaneously toserve a given UE 102.1 or UE 102.2 operating in the shared celloperating mode for a particular application traffic flow/PDU session. Inanother example, using beam-ID 1, beam-ID 2, or beam-ID 3, the DU 132can operate using a broadcast from a particular RU to serve a given UE102.1 or 102.2 operating in the shared cell operating mode for aparticular application traffic flow/PDU session. In yet another example,using a combination of beam-ID 1 and beam-ID 2, using a combination ofbeam-ID 1 and beam-ID 3, or using a combination of beam-ID 2 and beam-ID3, the DU 132 can operate using a distributed beamforming system from aplurality of RU 130.1, 130.2, and/or 130.3 to serve a given UE 102.1 orUE 102.2 operating in the shared cell operating mode for a particularapplication traffic flow/PDU session.

Consider an operational example involving UE 102.1 discussed withreference to FIGS. 2A, 2B, 2C, 2D, and 2E, which are a message sequencediagram illustrating a call flow 200 associated with providing DCsupport for UE 102.1 in the hybrid cell vRAN 120 architecture of FIG. 1utilizing an enhanced URSP, according to an example embodiment. FIGS.2A, 2B, 2C, 2D, and 2E include UE 102.1, RU 130.1, DU 132, CU 134, AMF112, SMF 114, and policy server 106. Various example details for callflow 200 may be discussed with reference to FIG. 1 for illustrativepurposes.

RAN-EMS 104 is not illustrated in FIGS. 2A, 2B, 2C, 2D, and 2E but maybe referenced with regard to various operations. For example, at 201 aconsider that the vRAN 120 is configured via RAN-EMS 104 to provide thehybrid cell configuration in order to provide both shared cell 138 andunique cells 136.1, 136.2, and 136.3. For example, DU 132 can beconfigured via RAN-EMS 104 to operate in two operating modes (sharedcell and unique cell operating modes) concurrently, each RU 130.1,130.2, and 130.3 that DU 132 serves can be configured to operateconcurrently in a shared cell mode and a unique cell mode to provideboth a unique cell and the shared cell (note, RU 130.2 and 130.3 are notshown in FIGS. 2A, 2B, 2C, 2D, and 2E), and a frequency allocation alongwith cell ID (e.g., E-CGI/NR-CGI) and PCI (e.g., E-PCI/NR-PCI) can beprovided between both modes.

Further, processing element endpoint configuration information can beprovided for each RU-DU pairing. In various embodiments, a processingelement endpoint configuration, depending on the transport type/networkconnectivity (e.g., Ethernet, IP, etc.) between DU 132 and each RU130.1, 130.2, and 130.3, may identify any of: different (alias) MediaAccess Control (MAC) addresses, virtual local area network (VLAN)identity and MAC addresses; and/or User Datagram Protocol (UDP) portsand IP addresses for the DU to which each RU is assigned. A particularprocessing element endpoint definition configured for a given RU/DUassignment can be provided a ‘name’ or other identifier that can be usedby other systems, nodes, etc. (e.g., RAN-EMS 104) in order to tie UEflows to DU 132.

For the configuration at 201 a, RAN-EMS 104 can communicate to DU 132the operating modes of the unique cell 136.1 and the shared cell 138 tobe operated by RU 130.1, the frequency allocation along with cell ID(e.g., E-CGI/NR-CGI) and PCI (e.g., E-PCI/NR-PCI) for each cell, andpairing information for the processing element endpoint configurationfor each of RU 130.1 and DU 132 for the RU 130.1—DU 132 pairing. For thepresent example, consider that unique cell 136.1 is associated with afirst NR-CGI (NR-CGI #1) and a first NR-PCI (NR-PCI #1) and that sharedcell 138 is associated with a second NR-CGI (NR-CGI #2) and a secondNR-PCI (NR-PCI #2).

Thereafter, DU 132 can communicate the NR-CGI and NR-PCI information foreach cell to be provided by RU 130.1 along with the operating mode foreach cell and the CU 134 can activate each cell for RU 130.1 in theshared or unique operating mode based on the configuration. Similaroperations can be performed for RU 130.2 and RU 130.3 in accordance withembodiments herein.

Further at 201, RAM-EMS 104 can obtain one or more beam resourcepolicies that may be configured for policy server 106 and may configurethe one or more beam resource policies for DU 132 and RUs 130.1, 130.2,and 130.3 that can be utilized for each unique cell 136.1, 136.2, and136.3 and shared cell 138 (e.g., using various operations, as discussedabove).

Further at 201 a, in at least one embodiment RAN-EMS 104 can configurethe vRAN 120 to advertise (via the DU 132 and RU 130.1) the capabilityof the vRAN to support dual-connectivity (DC) operation across both theshared cell 138 and the unique cell 136.1 (and also unique cell 136.2for RU 130.2 and unique cell 136.3 for RU 130.3). In one embodiment, DCsupport can be advertised as part of a first System Information Block(SIB1) broadcast for each cell, as shown at 201 b for RU 130.1, forexample. In some embodiments, the vRAN 120 may not advertise DC supportvia SIB1 broadcasts.

As shown at 202, consider that policy server is configured with anenhanced URSP for UE 102.1 that includes an operating mode for the UE(shared cell or unique cell) mapped to an AppID for each of one or moreapplications that may be operated by UE 102.1. The UE 102.1 can beidentified for the enhanced URSP using any UE/subscriber identifyinginformation (e.g., IMSI, IMEI, etc.), UE group/class/type information,etc.

A first application (e.g., a non-business-critical/non-business-relatedapplication operated via best effort app server 154)) can be identifiedin the enhanced URSP at 202 for UE 102.1 as AppID-1 associated with aslice identifier, NSSAI-1 for data network 150, DNN(150), an NR RATType, and a unique cell operating mode (Unique-cell) and a secondapplication (e.g., a business-critical/business-related applicationoperated via critical app server 152) can be identified as AppID-2associated with slice NSSAI-1 for data network 150 (DNN(150)), an NR RATtype, and a shared cell operating mode (Shared-Cell) as shown at 202.Further, the enhanced URSP and/or any other policy (e.g., subscriptioninformation) for UE 102.1 can be extended to include an indication thatthe UE 102.1 is allowed/approved for DCNR operation via vRAN 120 (e.g.,mode: DCNR), as shown at 202. It is to be understood that the enhancedURSP illustrated at 202 is provided for illustrative purposes only andis not meant to limit the broad scope of the present disclosure. In someembodiments, beam resource information/policies could also be providedfor an enhanced URSP configured for a UE (e.g., a single beam IDidentified for a unique cell operating mode or broadcast beam resourcesidentified for broadcast beam resources) and/or other information couldbe included in an enhanced URSP.

As shown at 203, UE 102.1 may connect to vRAN 120 any cell duringinitial cell-selection procedure to perform a UE RRC setup over any cellvia RU 130.1/DU 132/CU 134, as shown at 204, and a Non-Access Stratum(NAS) registration request as shown at 205 a and 205 b via AMF 112. TheCU 134 can identify that UE 102.1 is connected to a shared cell or aunique cell based on the RRC signaling with UE 102.1 at 204 (e.g., theCU 134 determines the NR-CGI/NR-PCI for the cell and knows whether thecell is a shared or unique cell based on the configuration of vRAN 120,as discussed for 201 a). The cell to which the UE 102.1 initiallyconnects may be referred to herein as the first, primary, or mastercell. As discussed in further detail below, the UE 102.1 can laterconnect to another cell, which may be referred to herein as the secondor secondary cell.

In various embodiments, a UE, such as UE 102.1 can initiate a connectionwith a mobile core network, such as mobile core network 110, utilizingan operating mode (shared cell or unique cell) as selected by the UE,utilizing an operating mode as configured for the UE by an enterprise(e.g., via Subscriber Identification Module (SIM) profile attributesdefining a preferred operating mode for the UE), combinations thereof,and/or the like.

Obtaining the NAS registration request for UE 102.1 by AMF 112 at 205 btriggers AMF 112 to validate if UE 102.1 is allowed fordual-connectivity operation (e.g., mode for the UE is set to indicateDCNR) and, if so, to obtain the enhanced URSP policy for UE 102.1. Forexample, at 206, 207, 208, and 209, AMF 112 performs an authenticationfor UE 102.1 per 3GPP standards (e.g., 3GPP TS 23.501, 33.501, 37.340,and 23.503) via policy server 106. Through the authentication of UE102.1, AMF 112 obtains the enhanced URSP policy for UE 102.1 from policyserver 106 (e.g., using the IMSI, IMEI, SUPI, etc. or a combinationthereof for UE 102.1), as shown at 210, and determines that UE 102.1 isapproved/allowed for DCNR operation. In some embodiments, UE 102.1 couldinclude an indication that it is dual-connectivity capable in theregistration request at 205 a/205 b in which the AMF 112 could stilldetermine whether the UE is approved/allowed for DC operation and obtainan enhanced URSP for UE 102.1 (containing AppID to operating modeinformation, etc.) via policy server 106 during authentication of UE102.1.

Upon successful authentication of UE 102.1 including determining that UE102.1 is approved for DC operation, AMF 112 performs a sessionmanagement context update for UE 102.1 with SMF 114, as shown at 211 and212 of FIG. 2B. At 213, AMF 112 prepares or generates an enhanced URSPcontainer that contains the operating mode mapped to AppID, as obtainedfrom policy server 106 at 210. As shown at 214, AMF 112 sends an NgApplication protocol (NgAP) Context Setup Request message including aNAS registration accept containing the enhanced URSP container. Themessage further includes an NgAP Information Element (IE) that includesan indication to enable dual-connectivity setup (via CU 134) across botha shared and a unique cell for UE 102.1 (as provided via RU 130.1).

As shown at 215, upon obtaining the NgAP message from AMF 112, CU 134has an indication (e.g., a “hint”) for dual-connectivity for UE 102.1that can be used to trigger the UE to perform a dual attach and the CU134 uses the cell IDs of the “other” operating mode (shared or unique inwhich the “other” is the operating mode through which the UE 102.1 isnot currently connecting to the network) as a secondary RRCconfiguration for the UE. The CU 134 can select the “other” cell as thesecondary configuration (e.g., if initial/primary connection for the UEis to a unique cell, then the secondary cell configuration is the sharedcell) and can provide a secondary cell configuration to the UE. At 216,CU 134 sends an RRC Reconfiguration accept message to UE 102.1 thatincludes the enhanced URSP container, along with cell configurationparameters for the primary cell (e.g., frequency information, cell IDinformation (E-CGI/NR-CGI), PCI/NR-PCI, beam resource information, etc.for the shared or unique cell that is the primary cell with which the UEis currently connecting). In some embodiments as shown at 216, the CU134 can also send secondary cell configuration parameters (e.g.,frequency information, cell ID information (E-CGI/NR-CGI), PCI/NR-PCI,beam resource information, etc.) for the “other” cell type to which theUE 102.1 can connect (e.g., shared or unique, depending on the primarycell with which the UE initially connects), as may be prescribedgenerally by 3GPP TS 37.340. In one example for an embodiment in whichvRAN 120 may not broadcast a capability to support DC operation, the CU134 can include cell configuration parameters for the shared or uniquecell that is the ‘other’/secondary cell to which the UE can connect.

Thus, as shown at 217, UE 102.1 has the mapping information contained inthe enhanced URSP and can use the information to bind one or moreapplications utilized by the UE to an operating mode (shared or unique)for any PDU session to be initiated for each of the one or moreapplications. Accordingly, UE 102.1 can obtain information mapping eachof one or more application ID(s) to operating mode information for eachapplication ID, beam resource information, slice information, DNNinformation, etc. as may be provided in an enhanced URSP as discussedfor embodiments herein.

Turning to FIG. 2C, at 218, 219, and 220 the RRC Reconfiguration and NASregistration processes are completed for UE 102.1 via CU 134 and AMF112, which performs another context update for the UE 102.1 via SMF 114,as shown at 221 and 222.

In some embodiments, as shown at 230, the UE 102.1 can pre-establishdual-connectivity over the secondary cell following completion of theregistration via the primary cell. For example, at 231, a random accessprocedure can be performed between UE 102.1 and CU 134 for the secondarycell. The secondary cell could be a shared cell if the primaryconnection was on a unique cell for the UE and the secondary cell couldbe a unique cell if the primary connection was on a shared cell for theUE. Thus, dual-connection over the secondary cell for the UE 102.1 canbe established as shown at 232, prior to the UE initiating a PDU sessionfor an application mapped to an operating mode that is different thanthe operating mode through which the primary connection is established.

In one example, consider at 240 that UE 102.1 starts/activates/launchesan application corresponding to AppID-1 (e.g., anon-business-critical/non-business related application operated via besteffort app server 154). In this example, consider that the primary cellthrough which UE 102.1 connected to the network was unique cell 136.1provided by RU 130.1. Based on the enhanced URSP policy for the UE 102.1(as discussed at 202), the UE 102.1 determines, at 241, that theoperating mode associated with AppID-1 is the unique cell operatingmode; thus, the UE is to initiate a PDU session for AppID-1 over theprimary cell, unique cell 136.1. Thereafter, at 242 a and 242 b (FIG.2D) and 243 a and 243 b, UE 102.1 establishes a first PDU session (PDUsession 1) over the primary cell RRC connection via CU 134 and AMF 112such that a data flow for AppID-1 is communicated between the UE 102.1and the network via the unique cell 136.1 radio communication link asshown at 244, which is also illustrated in FIG. 1 for the radiocommunication link between UE 102.1 and unique cell 136.1.

Any beam resources that may be configured for vRAN 120 for the uniquecell operating mode, such as a single beam ID that the UE 102.1 canaccess for the unique cell 136.1, can also be utilized by the UE 102.1in some embodiments. Although not illustrated in FIG. 2D, the PDUsession for AppID-1 can facilitate communication between UE 102.1 andbest effort app server 154.

In another example, consider at 250 that UE 102.1 starts/activatesanother application corresponding to AppID-2 (e.g., abusiness-critical/business-business related application operated viacritical app server 152). In this example, consider that the primarycell through which UE 102.1 connected to the network was unique cell136.1 provided by RU 130.1 through which the UE is currently operatingthe application corresponding to AppID-1 via the unique cell operatingmode. Based on the enhanced URSP policy for the UE 102.1 (as discussedat 202), the UE 102.1 determines, at 251, that the operating modeassociated with AppID-2 is the shared cell operating mode; thus, the UEis to initiate a PDU session for AppID-2 over the secondary cell, sharedcell 138.

As noted above at 230, 231, and 232, in some embodiments a UE caninitiate a secondary connection upon completing the RRC registration forthe primary cell connection. However, in other embodiments, a UE caninitiate a secondary connection upon starting/activating an applicationthat is mapped to an operating mode that is different than the operatingmode of the primary connection, as shown at 260. For example, at 261 arandom access procedure can be performed between UE 102.1 and CU 134 forthe secondary cell through which dual-connection for the UE 102.1 can beestablished as shown at 262.

Following either pre-establishment of the secondary cell connection (at230, 231, and 232) or establishment of the secondary cell connectionupon activating an application associated with a secondary cell (e.g.,AppID-2 as shown at 260, 261, and 262), UE 102.1 establishes a secondPDU session over the secondary cell RRC connection via shared cell 138,as shown at 252 a and 252 b (FIG. 2E) and 253 a and 253 b via CU 134 andAMF 112 such that a data flow for AppID-2 is communicated between the UE102.1 and the network via the shared cell 138 radio communication linkfor the second PDU session (PDU session 2) as shown at 254, which isalso illustrated in FIG. 1 for the radio communication link between UE102.1 and shared cell 138. Any beam resources that may be configured forthe shared cell operating mode via the enhanced URSP, such as anindication of broadcast beam resources that the UE 102.1 can access forthe shared cell 138, can also be utilized by the UE 102.1 in someembodiments. Although not illustrated in FIG. 2E, the PDU session forAppID-2 can facilitate communication between UE 102.1 and critical appserver 152.

Thus, as illustrated in FIGS. 2A, 2B, 2C, 2D, and 2E, UE 102.1 can haveat least two separate active PDU sessions over at least two separatecell types (shared and unique) per the enhanced URSP policy that mapsone or more AppID(s) to each of a shared cell operating mode or a uniquecell operating mode, as shown at 255. For example, UE 102.1 can haveAppID-1 data flows over unique cell 136.1 for the first active PDUsession involving AppID-1 communications and AppID-2 data flows overshared cell 138 for the second active PDU session involving AppID-2communications, as shown at 256.

Referring to FIG. 3 , FIG. 3 is a flow chart depicting a method 300according to an example embodiment. In at least one embodiment, method300 illustrates example operations that may be performed, at least inpart, by an AMF, such as AMF 112, in order to provide dual-connectivitysupport for a UE in a hybrid cell vRAN architecture (e.g., vRAN 120),according to an example embodiment.

Consider, at 302 that the method may include obtaining by a mobilenetwork (e.g., AMF 113) via a first cell of a radio access network(e.g., vRAN 120), a request for a UE to connect to the mobile networkvia the first cell in which the radio access network includes aplurality of radio units in which each radio unit of the plurality ofradio units provides a shared cell that is shared with at least oneother radio unit of the plurality of radio units and each radio unit ofthe plurality of radio units provides a unique cell that is not sharedwith any other radio units of the plurality of radio units. For example,the request may be a NAS registration request initiated by the UE (e.g.,as shown at 205 a/205 b of FIG. 2A).

At 304, the method may include determining that the UE is allowed fordual-connectivity operation. In one embodiment, determining that the UEis allowed for dual-connectivity operation capable can include obtainingan indication from the UE via the request that indicates that the UE isdual-connectivity capable and determining that the UE is allowed fordual-connectivity operation based on a policy for the UE that includesthe indication that the UE is allowed for dual-connectivity operation.In one embodiment, determining that the UE is allowed fordual-connectivity operation may merely be based on a policy for the UEthat includes the indication that the UE is allowed fordual-connectivity operation.

At 306, the method may include providing a policy (e.g., an enhancedURSP) to the UE in which the policy identifies, for each of one or moreapplications, one of a shared cell operating mode or a unique celloperating mode that the UE is to utilize for each of the one or moreapplications. In at least one embodiment, the method may includeobtaining the policy (e.g., enhanced URSP) by an AMF (e.g., AMF 112)from a policy server (e.g., policy server 106). The policy may includean application identity for each of the one or more applications that ismapped to one of the shared cell operating mode or the unique celloperating mode.

Other operations may be performed in accordance with techniques herein.For example, in some embodiments, the method may include advertising, byeach radio unit of the plurality of radio units, an indication that theradio access network supports dual-connectivity operation. In someembodiments, based on determining that the UE is allowed fordual-connectivity operation, the method may include causing the UE toconnect to the mobile network via a second cell of the radio accessnetwork while the UE is connected to the first cell. The first cell maybe a shared cell and the second cell may be a unique cell or the firstcell may be a unique cell and the second cell may be a shared cell suchthat the first cell and the second cell are different cell types (e.g.,shared or unique).

In some embodiments, the UE can establish a PDU session for a particularapplication via the shared cell or a particular unique cell provided bya particular radio unit based on the policy (e.g., enhanced URSP)obtained by the UE. In one embodiment, the first cell can be provided bythe particular radio unit and the UE can connect to the mobile networkvia a second cell of the particular radio unit to establish the PDUsession for the particular application. The UE can have another PDUsession for another application via the first cell such that the UE canhave two active PDU sessions via different cell types (e.g., a first PDUsession for an application via a shared cell and a second PDU sessionfor an application via a unique cell).

Referring to FIG. 4 , FIG. 4 is a flow chart depicting another method400 according to an example embodiment. In at least one embodiment,method 400 illustrates example operations that may be performed, atleast in part, by an UE, such as UE 102.1 and/or UE 102.2, in order tocommunicate application data flows via a corresponding cell operatingmode, according to an example embodiment.

Consider, at 402 that the method may include obtaining, by a UE, apolicy (e.g., an enhanced URSP) in which the policy identifies, for eachof one or more applications, one of a shared cell operating mode or aunique cell operating mode that the UE is to utilize for each of the oneor more applications. The policy may include an application identity foreach of the one or more applications that is mapped to one of the sharedcell operating mode or the unique cell operating mode.

At 404, the method may include determining activation of a particularapplication for the UE. For example, the particular application may bestarted/opened/launched by a user of the UE, the particular applicationmay initiate/launch, on its own, a session with an application server(e.g., critical app server 152 or best effort app server 154), theparticular application may be triggered to initiate/launch a sessionbased on a triggering event (e.g., time of day, environmental event,etc.) combinations thereof, and/or the like. At 406, the method mayinclude identifying, based on the policy obtained by the UE, a sharedcell operating mode or a unique cell operating mode to utilize forestablishing a PDU session with the mobile network for the particularapplication. At 408, the method may include establishing the PDU sessionfor the application with the mobile network via a shared cell or aunique cell based on the shared cell operating mode or the unique celloperating mode identified from the policy.

Referring to FIG. 5 , FIG. 5 illustrates a hardware block diagram of acomputing device 500 that may perform functions associated withoperations discussed herein. In various embodiments, a computing deviceor apparatus, such as computing device 500 or any combination ofcomputing devices 500, may be configured as any entity/entities asdiscussed herein in order to perform operations of the varioustechniques discussed herein, such as, for example, any of AMF 112, SMF114, RAN-EMS 104, CU 134, DU 132, and/or any other network elementdiscussed for embodiments herein.

In at least one embodiment, computing device 500 may be any apparatusthat may include one or more processor(s) 502, one or more memoryelement(s) 504, storage 506, a bus 508, one or more network processorunit(s) 510 interconnected with one or more network input/output (I/O)interface(s) 512, one or more I/O interface(s) 514, and control logic520. In various embodiments, instructions associated with logic forcomputing device 500 can overlap in any manner and are not limited tothe specific allocation of instructions and/or operations describedherein.

In at least one embodiment, processor(s) 502 is/are at least onehardware processor configured to execute various tasks, operationsand/or functions for computing device 500 as described herein accordingto software and/or instructions configured for computing device.Processor(s) 502 (e.g., hardware processor(s)) can execute any type ofinstructions associated with data to achieve the operations detailedherein. In one example, processor(s) 502 can transform an element or anarticle (e.g., data, information) from one state or thing to anotherstate or thing. Any of potential processing elements, microprocessors,digital signal processor, baseband signal processor, modem, PHY,controllers, systems, managers, logic, and/or machines described hereincan be construed as being encompassed within the broad term ‘processor’.

In at least one embodiment, memory element(s) 504 and/or storage 506is/are configured to store data, information, software, and/orinstructions associated with computing device 500, and/or logicconfigured for memory element(s) 504 and/or storage 506. For example,any logic described herein (e.g., control logic 520) can, in variousembodiments, be stored for computing device 500 using any combination ofmemory element(s) 504 and/or storage 506. Note that in some embodiments,storage 506 can be consolidated with memory element(s) 504 (or viceversa), or can overlap/exist in any other suitable manner.

In at least one embodiment, bus 508 can be configured as an interfacethat enables one or more elements of computing device 500 to communicatein order to exchange information and/or data. Bus 508 can be implementedwith any architecture designed for passing control, data and/orinformation between processors, memory elements/storage, peripheraldevices, and/or any other hardware and/or software components that maybe configured for computing device 500. In at least one embodiment, bus408 may be implemented as a fast kernel-hosted interconnect, potentiallyusing shared memory between processes (e.g., logic), which can enableefficient communication paths between the processes.

In various embodiments, network processor unit(s) 510 may enablecommunication between computing device 500 and other systems, entities,etc., via network I/O interface(s) 512 to facilitate operationsdiscussed for various embodiments described herein. In variousembodiments, network processor unit(s) 510 can be configured as acombination of hardware and/or software, such as one or more Ethernetdriver(s) and/or controller(s) or interface cards, Fibre Channel (e.g.,optical) driver(s) and/or controller(s), and/or other similar networkinterface driver(s) and/or controller(s) now known or hereafterdeveloped to enable communications between computing device 500 andother systems, entities, etc. to facilitate operations for variousembodiments described herein. In various embodiments, network I/Ointerface(s) 512 can be configured as one or more Ethernet port(s),Fibre Channel ports, and/or any other I/O port(s) now known or hereafterdeveloped. Thus, the network processor unit(s) 510 and/or network I/Ointerface(s) 512 may include suitable interfaces for receiving,transmitting, and/or otherwise communicating data and/or information ina network environment.

I/O interface(s) 514 allow for input and output of data and/orinformation with other entities that may be connected to computingdevice 500. For example, I/O interface(s) 514 may provide a connectionto external devices such as a keyboard, keypad, a touch screen, and/orany other suitable input device now known or hereafter developed. Insome instances, external devices can also include portable computerreadable (non-transitory) storage media such as database systems, thumbdrives, portable optical or magnetic disks, and memory cards. In stillsome instances, external devices can be a mechanism to display data to auser, such as, for example, a computer monitor, a display screen, or thelike.

In various embodiments, control logic 520 can include instructions that,when executed, cause processor(s) 502 to perform operations, which caninclude, but not be limited to, providing overall control operations ofcomputing device; interacting with other entities, systems, etc.described herein; maintaining and/or interacting with stored data,information, parameters, etc. (e.g., memory element(s), storage, datastructures, databases, tables, etc.); combinations thereof; and/or thelike to facilitate various operations for embodiments described herein.

For example, in at least one implementation, control logic 520 caninclude instructions that, when executed, cause processor(s) 502 toperform operations including obtaining, by a mobile network via a firstcell of a radio access network, a request for a user equipment toconnect to the mobile network via the first cell, wherein the radioaccess network comprises a plurality of radio units in which each radiounit of the plurality of radio units provides a shared cell that isshared with at least one other radio unit of the plurality of radiounits and each radio unit of the plurality of radio units provides aunique cell that is not shared with any other radio units of theplurality of radio units; determining that the user equipment is allowedfor dual-connectivity operation; and providing a policy (e.g., anenhanced URSP) to the user equipment, wherein the policy identifies, foreach of one or more applications, one of a shared cell operating mode ora unique cell operating mode that the user equipment is to utilize foreach of the one or more applications.

Referring to FIG. 6 , FIG. 6 illustrates a hardware block diagram of aradio device 600 that may perform functions associated with operationsdiscussed herein. In various embodiments, a radio device or apparatus,such as radio device 600 or any combination of radio devices 600, may beconfigured as any radio node/nodes as depicted herein in order toperform operations of the various techniques discussed herein, such asoperations that may be performed by any of an RU (e.g., any of RU 130.1,130.2, and 130.3) or a UE (e.g., any of UEs 102.1 and 102.2).

In at least one embodiment, radio device 600 may be any apparatus thatmay include one or more processor(s) 602, one or more memory element(s)604, storage 606, a bus 608, a baseband processor or modem 610, one ormore radio RF transceiver(s) 612, one or more antennas or antenna arrays614, one or more I/O interface(s) 616, and control logic 620. In variousembodiments, instructions associated with logic for radio device 600 canoverlap in any manner and are not limited to the specific allocation ofinstructions and/or operations described herein. For embodiments inwhich radio device 600 may be implemented as an RU, the radio device 600may additionally include beamformer logic 622 to perform beam resourcerelated operations, as discussed herein. In various embodiments,instructions associated with logic for radio device 600 can overlap inany manner and are not limited to the specific allocation ofinstructions and/or operations described herein.

The one or more processor(s) 602, one or more memory element(s) 604,storage 606, bus 608, and I/0 interface(s) 616 may beconfigured/implemented in any manner described herein, such as describedabove at least with reference to FIG. 5 . In one embodiment in whichradio device 600 may be implemented as a UE, application logic 630 foroperating one or more applications (e.g.,business-critical/business-related applications,non-business-critical/non-business-related applications, etc.) and anenhanced URSP 632 as obtained from a mobile core network identifying oneor more applications mapped to corresponding shared or unique celloperating modes (e.g., AppID->operating mode) may be stored in anycombination of memory element(s) 604 and/or storage 606.

The RF transceiver(s) 612 may perform RF transmission and RF receptionof wireless signals via antenna(s)/antenna array(s) 614, and thebaseband processor (modem) 610 performs baseband modulation anddemodulation, etc. associated with such signals to enable wirelesscommunications for radio device 600.

In various embodiments, control logic 620, can include instructionsthat, when executed, cause processor(s) 602 to perform operations, whichcan include, but not be limited to, providing overall control operationsof radio device 600; interacting with other entities, systems, etc.described herein; maintaining and/or interacting with stored data,information, parameters, etc. (e.g., memory element(s), storage, datastructures, databases, tables, etc.); combinations thereof; and/or thelike to facilitate various operations for embodiments described herein.

For example, in at least one implementation in which radio device 600 isimplemented as a UE, control logic 620 can include instructions that,when executed, cause processor(s) 602 to perform operations includingobtaining, by the radio device, a policy (e.g., an enhanced URSP) inwhich the policy identifies, for each of one or more applications, oneof a shared cell operating mode or a unique cell operating mode that theradio device is to utilize for each of the one or more applications;determining activation of a particular application for the radio device;identifying, based on the policy, a shared cell operating mode or aunique cell operating mode to utilize for establishing a PDU sessionwith the mobile network for the particular application; and establishingthe PDU session for the application with the mobile network via a sharedcell or a unique cell based on the shared cell operating mode or theunique cell operating mode identified from the policy.

In various embodiments, beamformer logic 622, if implemented, caninclude instructions that, when executed, cause processor(s) 602 toperform beam related operations as discussed herein, which can include,but not be limited to, providing beamforming operations (e.g.,transmissions, receptions, signaling, measurements, etc.); interactingwith other entities, systems, etc. (e.g., DU 132); maintaining and/orinteracting with stored data, information, parameters, etc. (e.g.,memory element(s), storage, data structures, databases, tables, etc.storing beam-ID/beam resource information, etc.); combinations thereof;and/or the like to facilitate various operations for embodimentsdescribed herein.

The programs described herein (e.g., control logic 520/620) may beidentified based upon application(s) for which they are implemented in aspecific embodiment. However, it should be appreciated that anyparticular program nomenclature herein is used merely for convenience;thus, embodiments herein should not be limited to use(s) solelydescribed in any specific application(s) identified and/or implied bysuch nomenclature.

In various embodiments, any entity or apparatus as described herein maystore data/information in any suitable volatile and/or non-volatilememory item (e.g., magnetic hard disk drive, solid state hard drive,semiconductor storage device, random access memory (RAM), read onlymemory (ROM), erasable programmable read only memory (EPROM),application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), etc.), software, logic(fixed logic, hardware logic, programmable logic, analog logic, digitallogic), hardware, and/or in any other suitable component, device,element, and/or object as may be appropriate. Any of the memory itemsdiscussed herein should be construed as being encompassed within thebroad term ‘memory element’. Data/information being tracked and/or sentto one or more entities as discussed herein could be provided in anydatabase, table, and register, list, cache, storage, and/or storagestructure: all of which can be referenced at any suitable timeframe. Anysuch storage options may also be included within the broad term ‘memoryelement’ as used herein.

Note that in certain example implementations, operations as set forthherein may be implemented by logic encoded in one or more tangible mediathat is capable of storing instructions and/or digital information andmay be inclusive of non-transitory tangible media and/or non-transitorycomputer readable storage media (e.g., embedded logic provided in: anASIC, digital signal processing (DSP) instructions, software[potentially inclusive of object code and source code], etc.) forexecution by one or more processor(s), and/or other similar machine,etc. Generally, memory element(s) 504/604 and/or storage 506/606 canstore data, software, code, instructions (e.g., processor instructions),logic, parameters, combinations thereof, and/or the like used foroperations described herein. This includes memory element(s) 504/604and/or storage 506/606 being able to store data, software, code,instructions (e.g., processor instructions), logic, parameters,combinations thereof, or the like that are executed to carry outoperations in accordance with teachings of the present disclosure.

In some instances, software of the present embodiments may be availablevia a non-transitory computer useable medium (e.g., magnetic or opticalmediums, magneto-optic mediums, CD-ROM, DVD, memory devices, etc.) of astationary or portable program product apparatus, downloadable file(s),file wrapper(s), object(s), package(s), container(s), and/or the like.In some instances, non-transitory computer readable storage media mayalso be removable. For example, a removable hard drive may be used formemory/storage in some implementations. Other examples may includeoptical and magnetic disks, thumb drives, and smart cards that can beinserted and/or otherwise connected to a computing device for transferonto another computer readable storage medium.

In one form, a computer-implemented method is provided that may includeobtaining, by a node of a mobile network via a first cell of a radioaccess network, a request for a user equipment to connect to the mobilenetwork via the first cell, wherein the radio access network comprises aplurality of radio units in which each radio unit of the plurality ofradio units provides a shared cell that is shared with at least oneother radio unit of the plurality of radio units and each radio unit ofthe plurality of radio units provides a unique cell that is not sharedwith any other radio units of the plurality of radio units; determiningthat the user equipment is allowed for dual-connectivity operation; andproviding a policy to the user equipment, wherein the policy identifies,for each of one or more applications, one of a shared cell operatingmode or a unique cell operating mode that the user equipment is toutilize for each of the one or more applications. In one instance, themethod may include obtaining the policy for the user equipment from apolicy server. In one instance, the policy may be an enhanced UE RouteSelection Policy (URSP).

In one instance, determining that the user equipment is allowed fordual-connectivity operation can be based on an indication obtained fromthe user equipment that the user equipment is dual-connectivity capable.In one instance, determining that the user equipment is allowed fordual-connectivity operation can be based on an indication provided by apolicy server that indicates that the user equipment is allowed fordual-connectivity operation.

In one instance, the method may include advertising, by each radio unitof the plurality of radio units, an indication that the radio accessnetwork supports dual-connectivity operation.

In one instance, the method may include based on determining that theuser equipment is allowed for dual-connectivity operation, causing theuser equipment to connect to the mobile network via a second cell of theradio access network while the user equipment is connected via the firstcell. In one instance, the first cell is a shared cell or a unique celland the second cell is a shared cell or a unique cell that is differentthan the first cell.

In one instance, the user equipment establishes a protocol data unit(PDU) session for a particular application via the shared cell or aparticular unique cell provided by a particular radio unit based on thepolicy. In one instance, the first cell is provided by the particularradio unit and the user equipment connects to the mobile network via asecond cell of the particular radio unit to establish the PDU sessionfor the particular application. In one instance, the user equipmentconcurrently has another PDU session for another application via thefirst cell provided by the particular radio unit. In one instance, thefirst cell is a shared cell or a unique cell and the second cell is ashared cell or a unique cell that is different than the first cell.

In one instance, the method may include, based on determining that theuser equipment is allowed for dual-connectivity operation, causing theuser equipment to connect to the mobile network via a second cell of theradio access network while the user equipment is connected via the firstcell, wherein the first cell is a shared cell or a unique cell and thesecond cell is a shared cell or a unique cell that is different than thefirst cell. In one instance, the user equipment is connected to thefirst cell of the radio access network for a first PDU sessionassociated with a first application identified in the policy and theuser equipment is connected to the second cell of the radio accessnetwork for a second PDU session associated with a second applicationidentified in the policy.

In one form, another computer-implemented method is performed that mayinclude obtaining, by a UE, a policy in which the policy identifies, foreach of one or more applications, one of a shared cell operating mode ora unique cell operating mode that the UE is to utilize for each of theone or more applications. The policy obtained by the UE may include anapplication identity for each of the one or more applications that ismapped to one of the shared cell operating mode or the unique celloperating mode. In one instance, the policy may be an enhanced UE RouteSelection Policy (URSP).

In one instance, the method may include determining activation of aparticular application for the UE. For example, the particularapplication may be started/opened/launched by a user of the UE, theparticular application may initiate, on its own, a session with anapplication server (e.g., critical app server 152 or best effort appserver 154), the particular application may be triggered toinitiate/launch a session based on a triggering event (e.g., time ofday, environmental event, etc.), combinations thereof, and/or the like.In one instance, the method may include identifying, based on the policyobtained by the UE, a shared cell operating mode or a unique celloperating mode to utilize for establishing a PDU session with the mobilenetwork for the particular application. In one instance, the method mayinclude establishing the PDU session for the application with the mobilenetwork via a shared cell or a unique cell based on the shared celloperating mode or the unique cell operating mode identified from thepolicy obtained by the UE.

In summary, techniques herein may facilitate dual-connectivity supportfor one or more UEs in a hybrid cell vRAN architecture. In particular,techniques herein may facilitate dual active PDU sessions concurrentlyacross different cell operating modes or types, such as a unique celltype and a shared cell type, in the hybrid cell vRAN architecture. Theselection of a cell type (unique or shared) for a PDU session of a UEcan be based on a policy, such as an enhanced UE Route Selection Policy(URSP) configured and provided to the UE that specifies, at least inpart, the operating mode/cell type that is to be utilized to establish aPDU session for each of one or more applications. In various instances,applications can be identified in the policy based on application IDs,application types, and/or the like.

Variations and Implementations

Embodiments described herein may include one or more networks, which canrepresent a series of points and/or network elements of interconnectedcommunication paths for receiving and/or transmitting messages (e.g.,packets of information) that propagate through the one or more networks.These network elements offer communicative interfaces that facilitatecommunications between the network elements. A network can include anynumber of hardware and/or software elements coupled to (and incommunication with) each other through a communication medium. Suchnetworks can include, but are not limited to, any local area network(LAN), virtual LAN (VLAN), wide area network (WAN) (e.g., the Internet),software defined WAN (SD-WAN), wireless local area (WLA) access network,wireless wide area (WWA) access network, metropolitan area network(MAN), Intranet, Extranet, virtual private network (VPN), Low PowerNetwork (LPN), Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN), Machine to Machine(M2M) network, Internet of Things (IoT) network, Ethernetnetwork/switching system, any other appropriate architecture and/orsystem that facilitates communications in a network environment, and/orany suitable combination thereof.

Networks through which communications propagate can use any suitabletechnologies for communications including wireless communications (e.g.,4G/5G/nG, IEEE 802.11 (e.g., Wi-Fi®/Wi-Fi6®), IEEE 802.16 (e.g.,Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX)),Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID), Near Field Communication (NFC),Bluetooth™ mm.wave, Ultra-Wideband (UWB), etc.), and/or wiredcommunications (e.g., T1 lines, T3 lines, digital subscriber lines(DSL), Ethernet, Fibre Channel, etc.). Generally, any suitable means ofcommunications may be used such as electric, sound, light, infrared,and/or radio to facilitate communications through one or more networksin accordance with embodiments herein. Communications, interactions,operations, etc. as discussed for various embodiments described hereinmay be performed among entities that may directly or indirectlyconnected utilizing any algorithms, communication protocols, interfaces,etc. (proprietary and/or non-proprietary) that allow for the exchange ofdata and/or information.

In various example implementations, any entity or apparatus for variousembodiments described herein can encompass network elements (which caninclude virtualized network elements, functions, etc.) such as, forexample, network appliances, forwarders, routers, servers, switches,gateways, bridges, load balancers, firewalls, processors, modules, radioreceivers/transmitters, and/or any other suitable device, component,element, or object operable to exchange information that facilitates orotherwise helps to facilitate various operations in a networkenvironment as described for various embodiments herein. Note that withthe examples provided herein, interaction may be described in terms ofone, two, three, or four entities. However, this has been done forpurposes of clarity, simplicity and example only. The examples providedshould not limit the scope or inhibit the broad teachings of systems,networks, etc. described herein as potentially applied to a myriad ofother architectures.

Communications in a network environment can be referred to herein as‘messages’, ‘messaging’, ‘signaling’, ‘data’, ‘content’, ‘objects’,‘requests’, ‘queries’, ‘responses’, ‘replies’, etc. which may beinclusive of packets. As referred to herein and in the claims, the term‘packet’ may be used in a generic sense to include packets, frames,segments, datagrams, and/or any other generic units that may be used totransmit communications in a network environment. Generally, a packet isa formatted unit of data that can contain control or routing information(e.g., source and destination address, source and destination port,etc.) and data, which is also sometimes referred to as a ‘payload’,‘data payload’, and variations thereof. In some embodiments, control orrouting information, management information, or the like can be includedin packet fields, such as within header(s) and/or trailer(s) of packets.Internet Protocol (IP) addresses discussed herein and in the claims caninclude any IP version 4 (IPv4) and/or IP version 6 (IPv6) addresses.

To the extent that embodiments presented herein relate to the storage ofdata, the embodiments may employ any number of any conventional or otherdatabases, data stores or storage structures (e.g., files, databases,data structures, data or other repositories, etc.) to store information.

Note that in this Specification, references to various features (e.g.,elements, structures, nodes, modules, components, engines, logic, steps,operations, functions, characteristics, etc.) included in ‘oneembodiment’, ‘example embodiment’, ‘an embodiment’, ‘anotherembodiment’, ‘certain embodiments’, ‘some embodiments’, ‘variousembodiments’, ‘other embodiments’, ‘alternative embodiment’, and thelike are intended to mean that any such features are included in one ormore embodiments of the present disclosure, but may or may notnecessarily be combined in the same embodiments. Note also that amodule, engine, client, controller, function, logic or the like as usedherein in this Specification, can be inclusive of an executable filecomprising instructions that can be understood and processed on aserver, computer, processor, machine, compute node, combinationsthereof, or the like and may further include library modules loadedduring execution, object files, system files, hardware logic, softwarelogic, or any other executable modules.

It is also noted that the operations and steps described with referenceto the preceding figures illustrate only some of the possible scenariosthat may be executed by one or more entities discussed herein. Some ofthese operations may be deleted or removed where appropriate, or thesesteps may be modified or changed considerably without departing from thescope of the presented concepts. In addition, the timing and sequence ofthese operations may be altered considerably and still achieve theresults taught in this disclosure. The preceding operational flows havebeen offered for purposes of example and discussion. Substantialflexibility is provided by the embodiments in that any suitablearrangements, chronologies, configurations, and timing mechanisms may beprovided without departing from the teachings of the discussed concepts.

As used herein, unless expressly stated to the contrary, use of thephrase ‘at least one of’, ‘one or more of’, ‘and/or’, variationsthereof, or the like are open-ended expressions that are bothconjunctive and disjunctive in operation for any and all possiblecombination of the associated listed items. For example, each of theexpressions ‘at least one of X, Y and Z’, ‘at least one of X, Y or Z’,‘one or more of X, Y and Z’, ‘one or more of X, Y or Z’ and ‘X, Y and/orZ’ can mean any of the following: 1) X, but not Y and not Z; 2) Y, butnot X and not Z; 3) Z, but not X and not Y; 4) X and Y, but not Z; 5) Xand Z, but not Y; 6) Y and Z, but not X; or 7) X, Y, and Z.

Additionally, unless expressly stated to the contrary, the terms‘first’, ‘second’, ‘third’, etc., are intended to distinguish theparticular nouns they modify (e.g., element, condition, node, module,activity, operation, etc.). Unless expressly stated to the contrary, theuse of these terms is not intended to indicate any type of order, rank,importance, temporal sequence, or hierarchy of the modified noun. Forexample, ‘first X’ and ‘second X’ are intended to designate two ‘X’elements that are not necessarily limited by any order, rank,importance, temporal sequence, or hierarchy of the two elements. Furtheras referred to herein, ‘at least one of’ and ‘one or more of’ can berepresented using the ‘(s)’ nomenclature (e.g., one or more element(s)).

One or more advantages described herein are not meant to suggest thatany one of the embodiments described herein necessarily provides all ofthe described advantages or that all the embodiments of the presentdisclosure necessarily provide any one of the described advantages.Numerous other changes, substitutions, variations, alterations, and/ormodifications may be ascertained to one skilled in the art and it isintended that the present disclosure encompass all such changes,substitutions, variations, alterations, and/or modifications as fallingwithin the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: obtaining, by a node of amobile network via a first cell of a radio access network, a request fora user equipment to connect to the mobile network via a first radiofrequency (RF) connection with the first cell, wherein the radio accessnetwork comprises a plurality of radio units in which each radio unit ofthe plurality of radio units provides a shared cell that is shared withat least one other radio unit of the plurality of radio units and eachradio unit of the plurality of radio units provides a unique cell thatis not shared with any other radio units of the plurality of radiounits; determining, through authentication of the user equipment forconnection to the mobile network, that the user equipment is allowed fordual-connectivity operation; and based on determining that the userequipment is allowed for dual-connectivity operation, providing a userequipment route selection policy (URSP) to the user equipment, whereinthe URSP identifies, for each of a plurality of applications, one of ashared cell operating mode or a unique cell operating mode that the userequipment is to utilize for RF connections for each of the plurality ofapplications and the URSP is to enable the user equipment to establish afirst session via the first RF connection utilizing the shared celloperating mode or the unique cell operating mode for operating a firstapplication of the plurality of applications.
 2. The method of claim 1,wherein determining that the user equipment is allowed fordual-connectivity operation is based on an indication that is obtainedfrom the user equipment or that is obtained from a policy server fromwhich the URSP is obtained in which the indication indicates that theuser equipment is allowed for dual-connectivity operation.
 3. The methodof claim 1, further comprising: broadcasting, via an RF broadcastprovided by each radio unit of the plurality of radio units, anindication that the radio access network supports dual-connectivityoperation.
 4. The method of claim 1, further comprising: based ondetermining that the user equipment is allowed for dual-connectivityoperation, causing the user equipment to connect to the mobile networkvia a second RF connection with a second cell of the radio accessnetwork while the user equipment is concurrently connected via the firstRF connection with the first cell.
 5. The method of claim 4, wherein thefirst cell is a shared cell or a unique cell and the second cell is ashared cell or a unique cell that is different than the first cell. 6.The method of claim 1, wherein the user equipment establishes the firstsession for the first application of the plurality of applications viathe shared cell or via a particular unique cell provided by a particularradio unit of the plurality of radio units based on the URSP.
 7. Themethod of claim 6, wherein the first cell is provided by the particularradio unit of the plurality of radio units and the user equipmentconnects to the mobile network via a second RF connection with a secondcell of the particular radio unit of the plurality of radio units toestablish the first session for the first application of the pluralityof applications.
 8. The method of claim 7, wherein the user equipmentconcurrently has a second session for another a second application ofthe plurality of applications via the first RF connection with the firstcell provided by the particular radio unit of the plurality of radiounits.
 9. The method of claim 7, wherein the first cell is a shared cellor a unique cell and the second cell is a shared cell or a unique cellthat is different than the first cell.
 10. One or more non-transitorycomputer readable storage media encoded with instructions that, whenexecuted by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations,comprising: obtaining, by a node of a mobile network via a first cell ofa radio access network, a request for a user equipment to connect to themobile network via a first Radio Frequency (RF) connection with thefirst cell, wherein the radio access network comprises a plurality ofradio units in which each radio unit of the plurality of radio unitsprovides a shared cell that is shared with at least one other radio unitof the plurality of radio units and each radio unit of the plurality ofradio units provides a unique cell that is not shared with any otherradio units of the plurality of radio units; determining, throughauthentication of the user equipment for connection to the mobilenetwork, that the user equipment is allowed for dual-connectivityoperation; and based on determining that the user equipment is allowedfor dual-connectivity operation, providing a user equipment routeselection policy (URSP) to the user equipment, wherein the URSPidentifies, for each of a plurality of applications, one of a sharedcell operating mode or a unique cell operating mode that the userequipment is to utilize for RF connections for each of the plurality ofapplications and the URSP is to enable the user equipment to establish afirst session via the first RF connection utilizing the shared celloperating mode or the unique cell operating mode for operating a firstapplication of the plurality of applications.
 11. The media of claim 10,wherein determining that the user equipment is allowed fordual-connectivity operation is based on an indication that is obtainedfrom the user equipment or that is obtained from a policy server fromwhich the URSP is obtained in which the indication indicates that theuser equipment is allowed for dual-connectivity operation.
 12. The mediaof claim 10, further comprising instructions that, when executed by theprocessor, cause the processor to perform further comprising: based ondetermining that the user equipment is allowed for dual-connectivityoperation, causing the user equipment to connect to the mobile networkvia a second RF connection with a second cell of the radio accessnetwork while the user equipment is concurrently connected via the firstRF connection with the first cell, wherein the first cell is a sharedcell or a unique cell and the second cell is a shared cell or a uniquecell that is different than the first cell.
 13. The media of claim 12,wherein the user equipment is connected to the mobile network via thefirst RF connection with the first cell of the radio access network forthe first session associated with the first application of the pluralityof applications identified in the URSP and the user equipment isconcurrently connected to the mobile network via the second RFconnection with the second cell of the radio access network for a secondsession associated with a second application of the plurality ofapplications identified in the URSP.
 14. An apparatus of a mobilenetwork comprising: at least one memory element for storing data; and atleast one processor for executing instructions associated with the data,wherein executing the instructions causes the apparatus to performoperations, comprising: obtaining, by the apparatus of the mobilenetwork via a first cell of a radio access network, a request for a userequipment to connect to the mobile network via a first Radio Frequency(RF) connection with the first cell, wherein the radio access networkcomprises a plurality of radio units in which each radio unit of theplurality of radio units provides a shared cell that is shared with atleast one other radio unit of the plurality of radio units and eachradio unit of the plurality of radio units provides a unique cell thatis not shared with any other radio units of the plurality of radiounits; determining, through authentication of the user equipment forconnection to the mobile network, that the user equipment is allowed fordual-connectivity operation; and based on determining that the userequipment is allowed for dual-connectivity operation, providing a userequipment route selection policy (URSP) to the user equipment, whereinthe URSP identifies, for each of a plurality of applications, one of ashared cell operating mode or a unique cell operating mode that the userequipment is to utilize for RF connections for each of the plurality ofapplications and the URSP is to enable the user equipment to establish afirst session via the first RF connection utilizing the shared celloperating mode or the unique cell operating mode for operating a firstapplication of the plurality of applications.
 15. The apparatus of claim14, wherein determining that the user equipment is allowed fordual-connectivity operation is based on an indication that is obtainedfrom the user equipment or that is obtained from a policy server fromwhich the URSP is obtained in which the indication indicates that theuser equipment is allowed for dual-connectivity operation.
 16. Theapparatus of claim 14, further comprising instructions that, whenexecuted by the processor, cause the processor to perform furthercomprising: based on determining that the user equipment is allowed fordual-connectivity operation, causing the user equipment to connect tothe mobile network via second RF connection with a second cell of theradio access network while the user equipment is concurrently connectedvia the first RF connection with the first cell, wherein the first cellis a shared cell or a unique cell and the second cell is a shared cellor a unique cell that is different than the first cell.
 17. Theapparatus of claim 16, wherein the user equipment is connected to themobile network via the first RF connection with the first cell of theradio access network for the first session associated with the firstapplication of the plurality of applications identified in the URSP andthe user equipment is concurrently connected to the mobile network viathe second RF connection with the second cell of the radio accessnetwork for a second session associated with a second application of theplurality of applications identified in the URSP.
 18. The method ofclaim 4, wherein the user equipment connects to the mobile network viathe second RF connection with the second cell prior to the userequipment establishing the first session via the first RF connection.19. The method of claim 4, wherein the first cell and the second cellare provided by a particular radio unit of the plurality of radio units.20. The method of claim 1, wherein if the first application is anon-business-critical application, the URSP identifies the unique celloperating mode for the user equipment for the first application or ifthe first application is a business-critical application, the URSPidentifies the shared cell operating mode for the user equipment for thefirst application.